Iain Dale: My hunch is that employers will pay for this NHS spending spree

Plus: Shame on the Conservative whips. And away with Julian Assange: most of us would happily pay his airfare.

Henry Hill: Bradley criticised for ‘legal assault’ on ex-servicemen and dithering on MLA pay cuts

Also: Three Plaid AMs call for leadership challenge against Wood; Foster breaks new ground at LGBT event; and Sargeant inquiry may not report until Jones steps down.

Robert Halfon: AK47s, pluralism, war, students, cigars – and I get high. What I saw amidst Kurdistan’s fledgeling democracy.

I hope that, one day, it is no longer just an autonomous region in Iraq, but gets the independence it deserves.

James Frayne: The NHS spending announcement should be a medium-term winner for the Conservatives

There is zero chance that the public are going to back any meaningful reform of the service any time soon.

Nicky Morgan: Chope’s upskirting ban veto, and no-deal hard Brexiteers – fellow travellers in the campaign to wreck modernisation

It says it all, really, that an older male Tory MP should object to outlawing a sexual crime which makes use of twenty-first century technology.

Lewis Baston: The Thorpe farce shows that both cock-up and conspiracy drive history

If the establishment had really been as efficiently conspiratorial as it was supposed to be, there would have been no need for his amateurish plot.

Iain Dale: It was Phillip Lee, but could have been me

Plus: Damian Collins and his useless Select Committee shot themselves in the foot this week. Let grandstanding committee chairmen be warned.

Henry Hill: SNP’s PMQs stunt prevented the very debate they claimed to want

Also: Robinson calls for fixed-term border polls in Ulster; Wood sets departure date as leader of Plaid; and the architect of ‘The Vow’ comes out for Scottish independence.

Garvan Walshe: How Trump came to deal with Kim Jong Un – the inside story

Our columnist goes behind the scenes in the White House, as fly on the wall of the Oval Office.

Alex Morton: The EU negotiation. First, let’s use the velvet glove. But if that doesn’t work, the iron fist.

We need to be tough – without a deal, they should get no money from us, reduced troop levels in Eastern Europe, less help on refugee issues in the Mediterranean.

James Frayne: Campaigns. Out-spending the opposition only works when the fundamentals are in place

I’d relax the limits significantly if not totally, but insist on near real-time transparency from campaigns over their permitted donors.

Henry Newman: Navigating the EU Withdrawal Bill through unamended without a majority is nightmarish – but possible

Labour have sunk efforts to trap us in the Single Market. A compromise should kick the Customs Union can down the road. Which leaves the ‘meaningful’ vote.

Howard Flight: Our ageing population makes it almost inevitable that we will one day have to contribute towards our healthcare

The alternative is endlessly loading more costs onto the young via taxation, when they are already significantly worse off than their parents.

Rebecca Lowe: Fight for the right to choose of the poor, the fat and, yes, the stupid

None of these qualities necessarily stop you wanting things, knowing what you enjoy, and being able to weigh up how to decide.

Syed Kamall: Europe’s biggest ports are being refreshingly practical about Brexit

If only Brussels could conduct itself more like the management of Rotterdam, who are ignoring talk of ‘Armageddon’ and getting on with planning for the future.